Band:	Korpituli
Album:	Pohjola
Style:	Black metal, Folk metal
Release date:	April 2024
A review by:	Netzach

01. Maan Ääriin
02. Pohjola
03. Pohjan Akka
04. Lalli
05. Syyttä Suotta Sariolaan
06. Soittajapaimen
07. Saunavihdat
08. Yksi Kaksi Kolme Neljä
09. Kalliolle Kukkulalle
10. Väkensä Luokse

Ever felt the need to scratch that Moonsorrow itch? I sure have. Ever felt like adding some avant-garde leanings into that progressive Pagan mix? I sure have.

Forgive me, Ukko, for I have sinned. Long since were the times when this album fell into my hands, and for various reasons it slipped under my radar. Oh, god of thunder, let me repent. Korpituli is a one-man outfit on a quite interesting trajectory from his previous two albums, which I both gave favourable reviews here and here. While the album title clearly refers to the Finnish name for the Nordics, it's obviously more referring to Pohjola, the strange, evil, Northern realm described in the Finnish national epos of Kalevala (and the Kanteletar), which generally suffuses the entirety of Finnish Pagan mythology (which is entirely different from Norse mythology, mind you), and you wouldn't believe Pohjola was made by the same band, except in all but the name. While the previous two were a raw, melancholic, Burzumesque sort of black metal, Pohjola shows an admirably experimental side of the band, with folk song-based melodies and riffs of the kind utilised by Moonsorrow and early Amorphis (more on them later), and a wide vocal variety of the kind showcased in the affiliated avant-garde band Alkuharmonian Kantaja (which I'm still expecting to hear more from), all topped off with an adventurous approach to songwriting that equally often deceptively sticks to the very basics as it takes you on quite a progressive, shamanistic ride.

“Shamanistic” is a word I'll likely over-utilise here unless I put a stop to it right from the start and simply ask you to imagine it being interspersed among most, if not all, of the following uses of two or more adjectives whenever I'm describing something. In fact, most of the songs on Pohjola sound like they were written during some sort of shamanistic (fuck's sake!) trance, then translated halfway into black metal-ish and run through a “randomise/avantgardise”-iteration (the binary outcome of which depends on, uhh, the actual outcome). In clear English (not my forte, mind you), this means - and I know I'm quoting myself here even if nobody else does - that “when it's good, it's great”, of course subtly implying that when it's not, then it's not, but these moments are fortunately few and far between, and most of them are frankly excused by the experimental approach to composition that most of the times lead to pretty spectacular results.

“Maan Ääriin” (To The Edges Of The Earth) is a short, melodic intro with a mid paced lead guitar over warlike toms that does nothing to prepare you for the folksy madness that follows, save for getting you into a folksy mood. “Pohjola” (The North) then comes charging with a, well, charging drum riff, threatening strings, and bouncy riff that takes a short detour into melodic black metal before completely breaking down into an even bouncier riff supporting a shaman… (oh, come on) ritualistic (hah, saved it!) chanting preparing you for a chorus simply singing the song title over a catchy lead guitar. That's all in the first 1-2 minutes, and the song ends in a completely different section with hardcore drums, meloblack riffing, and gang shouting, as if it needed more variety to begin with. I'm definitely not complaining, though; I was expecting something entirely different on account of Korpituli’s earlier releases, but what I hear so far is as cerebral as it is entertaining, and that hits home for me.

The following “Pohjolan Akka” reminds me of something off a (very) early Moonsorrow album, although a tad more chaotic, and in case the comparisons eluded you so far, “Lalli” is the name of the guy who murdered that missionary “Köyliönjärven Jäällä” (On The Ice Of Lake Köyliö, off their debut album). I'm not sure how far the intentional tributes go here or if it's mostly based on the same concept, or even the same folk songs (more on that soon) but the musical similarities are there even though Korpituli clearly has a more experimental approach to it; an experimental approach that starts to show its (quite few) draws here, as while every section that follows is pretty great, they’re put together in a sort of hodgepodge manner that loses a bit of the focus the album starts out with.

Reaching “Soittajapaimen”, which is named after the very folk song it is based upon, we hold for a while as we decide whether Korpituli is plagiarising Amorphis’ “Magic & Mayhem” or if they're both just based on the same folk song. Obviously, the correct answer is the latter, and there's no stealing going on here, but it's still pretty audacious to use the same melody as one used on fucking Tales From The Thousand Lakes. Does the audacity pay off, though? Sure does, as the resulting song is nothing like the aforementioned one, and quickly develops into a multifaceted folk doom/black piece with a quite eerie atmosphere that together with the title track ends up being a highlight of the album. “Saunavihdat” (Sauna Whisks) is a bouncy cut about, well, have a guess, and keeps attention confidently piqued, but “Yksi Kaksi Kolme Neljä” (One Two Three Four) is about one, two, three, four minutes too long for its own good, and while “Kalliolle Kukkulalle” (To The Rocky Hill) sets up for a suitably epic finish, it veers off track several times - however, it does so in a fashion that is also suitably… screw it, “shamanistic”, to go with the general flow of this album, and is quite forgivable.

As the melancholic tremolos of “Väkensä Luokse” (To Their People) ring out, I’m left with the impression of a highly ambitious work of love, that strives to encapsulate a lot of history, a lot of lore, and a lot of tradition - a lot of which has been lost to time already. This is… “Karelian metal” (you heard it here first!), and for all its experimental missteps, I’m already looking forward to more - unless Korpituli decides to throw us another curveball next time around.